Things to Remember:
You must remember that a student’s report is a means of communication between home and school and should address student strengths and issues, that of course have already been presented to the parents/carers through previous communication. Reports must be straight forward, accurate and positive (Haigh, 2013).
Things to consider when writing your reports include:
1. Keep track of student progress: to make the reporting process more accurate and easier for you, you need to make sure you are continually tracking each students progress, writing summaries about their social development and commitment to learning and saving work samples that you can write about in the report, and are then able to relate to in parent- teacher interviews. This will make strong connections between the student and their work and enable you to communicate more effectively about their child’s progress at school.
2. Spelling and Grammar: ensure spelling and grammar is correct and that you have the correct student’s name in the report throughout (and check spelling against the official class roll). Have a friend or colleague check over your reports as a fresh set of eyes, and to ensure there are no mistakes made throughout.
3. Be positive and no surprises: If there are issues with student’s behaviour, learning, or progress, these should have been addressed through prior communication with the parent. There should be no surprises in the report, which the parents do not already know. Being positive is also important as it is a reflection of your teaching. If you are basing everything around negatives it will reflect your teaching in a negative light to the parent/carer. If you think positively about the student you are writing about, and discuss areas for development through things they do well, this
4. Be familiar with the school’s report writing system. Make sure you know what process the school uses for their reporting process as soon as you can. This will give you a chance to explore how reports are written at your school. You should then ask as many questions you have about it sooner rather than later. Ask any questions you have as soon as possible, instead of asking during report writing time when your staff peers are focussing on writing their reports.
5. Use appropriate language: Ensure that you reports are written in a way that is not using too much academic lingo that parents/carers do not understand, this may seem to patronising. Also, consider the tone in your writing, and ensure that it is not only positive, but at a level the parents understand. You must always consider that these parents have equal or more experiences than you, and reports should not be ‘dumbed-down’. Write your reports as straight-forward as possible and consider the parents/carers have probably received many school reports before yours, and are comparing these to the professionalism in your writing and ability to communicate through a formal report.
6. Consider your student and their background and consider what the requirements of their report is, such as ESL, A-E or P Scaling, which can be found in the Policy Standards of this webpage.
Things to consider when writing your reports include:
1. Keep track of student progress: to make the reporting process more accurate and easier for you, you need to make sure you are continually tracking each students progress, writing summaries about their social development and commitment to learning and saving work samples that you can write about in the report, and are then able to relate to in parent- teacher interviews. This will make strong connections between the student and their work and enable you to communicate more effectively about their child’s progress at school.
2. Spelling and Grammar: ensure spelling and grammar is correct and that you have the correct student’s name in the report throughout (and check spelling against the official class roll). Have a friend or colleague check over your reports as a fresh set of eyes, and to ensure there are no mistakes made throughout.
3. Be positive and no surprises: If there are issues with student’s behaviour, learning, or progress, these should have been addressed through prior communication with the parent. There should be no surprises in the report, which the parents do not already know. Being positive is also important as it is a reflection of your teaching. If you are basing everything around negatives it will reflect your teaching in a negative light to the parent/carer. If you think positively about the student you are writing about, and discuss areas for development through things they do well, this
4. Be familiar with the school’s report writing system. Make sure you know what process the school uses for their reporting process as soon as you can. This will give you a chance to explore how reports are written at your school. You should then ask as many questions you have about it sooner rather than later. Ask any questions you have as soon as possible, instead of asking during report writing time when your staff peers are focussing on writing their reports.
5. Use appropriate language: Ensure that you reports are written in a way that is not using too much academic lingo that parents/carers do not understand, this may seem to patronising. Also, consider the tone in your writing, and ensure that it is not only positive, but at a level the parents understand. You must always consider that these parents have equal or more experiences than you, and reports should not be ‘dumbed-down’. Write your reports as straight-forward as possible and consider the parents/carers have probably received many school reports before yours, and are comparing these to the professionalism in your writing and ability to communicate through a formal report.
6. Consider your student and their background and consider what the requirements of their report is, such as ESL, A-E or P Scaling, which can be found in the Policy Standards of this webpage.